JLR introduces digital apprenticeship
Jaguar Land Rover has introduced a new apprenticeship to help meet the global demand for five million people with specialised digital skills by 2023.
It has introduced the Land Rover 4×4 in Schools programme to help tomorrow’s engineers learn to code self-driving vehicles. Self-driving cars will require an estimated one billion lines of computer code.
Its new Digital Skills Apprenticeship programme is intended to attract the brightest computer engineers to help code its next-generation electric, connected and autonomous vehicles and support the factories of the future.
Nick Rogers, executive director, product engineering at Jaguar Land Rover, said, ‘Computer engineering and software skills are more important than ever in the rapidly changing automotive industry, and that will only increase as we see more autonomous, connected and electric vehicles on the roads.
‘The UK will need 1.2 million more people with specialist digital skills by 2022, and as a technology company, it’s our job to help inspire and develop the next generation of technically curious and pioneering digital engineers. The Land Rover 4×4 In Schools Technology Challenge is just one of the ways we are doing this, as well as our new Digital Skills Apprenticeship programme we are launching this year.’
The Land Rover 4×4 in Schools programme has helped the company reach more than four million young people since 2000. This year 110 students from 14 countries qualified for the world finals held at the University of Warwick. Contestants were able to write 200 lines of code in 30 minutes, with NewGen Motors team from Greece lifting the trophy following two intensive days of competition.
Mark Wemyss-Holden, former teacher and curriculum content developer, said, ‘Coding is high on the agenda across industry and teachers do a fantastic job delivering the curriculum, but schools have competing priorities and are hamstrung by limited budgets and time. The private sector, and programmes like Land Rover 4×4 In Schools, have a real opportunity to bridge the gap between what learners enjoy studying and how that translates into a future career.’
